Hope is Out There
by onkei
Summary: Sam makes her way through the woods of Georgia to find her family during the walkers' reign of terror - with only a long bow, pepper spray and the company of her college roommates. Another Daryl & OC. Slow and steady romance during an unforgettable adventure to find a new life.


_**I don't own The Walking Dead. Just my original characters.  
Rate/Review/Enjoy thoroughly.**_

**PROLOGUE**

* * *

I can barely remember now, as if the whole thing was just a dream.

I was sitting in my dorm room doing homework, as usual. My roommate Josephine was sleeping in her bed, stoned - as usual. Everything was ordinary. Loud, pounding music coming from two rooms down. Sylvia in the hallway strumming on her guitar, befriending every soul that walked by with a sweet smile.

It was hot and the air conditioning was broken yet. The kanji letters in front of me burred into a mess of ink and I found myself not able to focus again.

Then the lights went out.

The music stopped. Sylvia's confused laugh rang through the dormitory along with some others. Playful screams of pretend fear echoed down the hallway. I sighed and smiled to myself. College. I peeked my head outside of my room. Everyone else was peering out of their rooms too.

It was three o' clock. I should have been on my way to Japanese 2367 in Romans Hall by now.

She was at the end of the hallway, about 200 yards away from my door. I saw her before anyone else. She had long, sandy brown hair that stuck to her face in sweat.. and blood. Her face was sunken and pale. Her eyes were dark and caved in. I remember thinking, 'She looks dead.' Sometimes I think back on that dark irony and laugh to myself.

My stomach turned over. She surveyed the hallway and the innocent students conversing with one another. Everyone was oblivious to what would happen next. Sarah, a Chemistry major from California, noticed the sandy-haired girl soon enough.

"Nice cosplay!"

The blood-curdling screams flooded my ears. I turned away in time to only see the fountain of red splurging from Sarah's neck from the corner of my eye.

Sylvia.

She was still sitting cross-legged on the floor next to my doorframe. I grabbed her sleeve and pulled her away from the scene she was watching with her mouth open in horror. Josephine was passed out on the bed. I felt my heart rate increase, sobs collecting in my mouth as the screams were getting louder in the building. It was the feeling like something popped out of the dark for a friendly fright, but my heart would not stop racing.

People were rushing by door. Some were frozen in their tracks, watching the sandy-haired girl enjoy her lunch there on the carpet in a sea of blood.

With Sylvia still paralyzed with fear in one hand and Josephine just waking up in the other, we rushed to the stairs, right past the elevator. For some reason there were students waiting anxiously for the cart to come up for them. I shouted to remind them that the power was out and to take the stairs. They didn't seem to understand. They didn't comprehend what was happening - why the elevator wouldn't work. They were scared.

I left them and took my friends in my hands to the stairs. I didn't look back. I heard the muffled steps of another walker limping their way to the elevator. I heard their cries. I left them. I went down the stairs.

Down, down, down the stairs.

Floor 5, 4, 3, 2 and finally… I no longer had to hold Josephine and Sylvia. They were alert now and functioning well enough to understand that they needed to evacuate. It was darker on the staircase because there weren't many windows. As we passed by each floor we heard more sobs and screams. We soon caught up with the herd from our floor who had escaped the scene. More people joined us from the floors we passed. They were everywhere. I heard Josephine mutter something in Spanish behind me.

We were finally outside. I tried not to look - I am not sure what Josephine and Sylvia saw. Probably more than they wanted to. I heard their muffled sobs of fear. The parking garage was right across the street. My little bug that my mom had gotten me for my 16th birthday was fortunately parked on the ground level floor.

A sharp pain erupted in my side when I sat in the driver's seat. I realized that we had sprinted the whole way down. My friends were safely inside. Josephine's raven hair was a mess. Her brown hand hurriedly reached for the passenger seat door handle. I heard the doors lock. I fumbled with the keys but I could not find what I needed. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, ignoring Sylvia's impatient protest to "GO! GO! GO!"

I opened my eyes and thought about what I had to do. Drive away. Find a weapon. Drive far away. I located my car key. I drove quickly out of the garage and down 11th Avenue towards the highway. All I had to defend myself was the mace my stepdad had bought for me on my first day of school in the city. I don't think either one of us imagined just what I would be up against with my little pink pepper spray bottle.

Drive, drive, drive.


End file.
